Most directory products sell you the listings layer and leave you to buy the rank tracker, the billing, the schema and the indexer somewhere else. This page shows exactly where that line falls for each one — with prices and sources, so you can check them yourself.
Every competitor figure re-checked 31 July 2026 against the vendor's own pricing page
GeoDirectory and Directorist give you a strong listings core, then sell capability as extensions. The sticker price is the floor, not the ceiling — and it renews.
Brilliant Directories runs the whole thing for you. Least setup work of the three — but you rent it monthly, and the site, the database and the code stay on their infrastructure.
TurnKey Directories ships the listings and the SEO tooling, the billing and the ad zones in one licence, on your own WordPress install. One payment, no add-on ladder.
TurnKey Directories rows describe the shipped plugin. Competitor rows come from each vendor's
own pricing and documentation pages on the date shown — hover the
| TurnKey Directories | GeoDirectory | Directorist | Brilliant Directories | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership & cost | ||||
| Where it runs | Your serverGPL plugin, your database, your backups | Your serverWordPress plugin | Your serverWordPress plugin | Their serversSaaS — you don't host or own the code |
| Entry price | $0Free on WordPress.org — unlimited manual listings, no time limit | Free core + paid add-onsFull add-on membership $229/yr |
Free core + paid plansStarter $110–129/yr, 1 site |
$40/moEssentials, or $240/yr |
| One-time option | Yes — $299 to $1,499Four tiers: Starter $299 · Growth $549 · Pro $899 · Agency $1,499. Lifetime updates on your tier; annual billing also available |
OccasionallyLifetime deals run separately from the annual membership | Yes — $379 to $749Starter $379 (1 site), Pro $579 (5), Agency $749 (20) |
NoSubscription only — the bill never stops |
| Unlimited sites | Agency, $1,499 once | $99/yr add-on tierPer-addon site tiers, e.g. Pricing Manager unlimited $99/yr |
$142/yrLifetime Agency caps at 20 sites | Per-site billing |
| Scale | ||||
| Bulk import | CSV / XLSX, visual mapper10K / 30K / 50K per tier, runs in the background | YesCSV import in the core plugin | YesCSV import | YesCSV import |
| Scrape Google Maps in-app | Growth+Outscraper wired into the import wizard — your own account, pay-as-you-go | No | No | No |
| Street-view image per listing | Free tier and upMapillary imagery fetched from each listing's coordinates | No | No | No |
| Published benchmark at scale | 3 live demos10K / 30K / 50K listings, public, run them through PageSpeed yourself | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| SEO — included, not bolted on | ||||
| LocalBusiness schema | Free, every URL levelListing, city, state, country and category pages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| XML + HTML sitemaps | FreeBoth, generated for the whole directory | YesUsually via an SEO plugin | YesUsually via an SEO plugin | Yes |
| Search Console + GA4 in the dashboard | FreeYour own Google account, impressions and clicks per listing | Not built inThird-party analytics plugin | Not built inThird-party analytics plugin | Basic reporting |
| Keyword rank tracking | Growth+Built on your own Search Console data — no third-party rank-tracker subscription | No | No | No |
| Cannibalization detection | Pro+Finds your own pages competing for the same query | No | No | No |
| Push new URLs to search engines | Starter+Google Indexing API; IndexNow (Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver) from Growth | NoSeparate indexing plugin | NoSeparate indexing plugin | No |
| Revenue | ||||
| Who takes a cut of your revenue | NobodyYour own Stripe account — listings pay you directly | NobodyYour own gateway | NobodyYour own gateway | NobodyYour own gateway, but the platform fee never stops |
| Recurring billing for listings | Starter+, includedStripe subscriptions + a branded customer portal | Paid add-onPricing Manager from $49/yr, plus a gateway — WooCommerce Subscriptions is itself paid |
Included in paid plansPayPal / Stripe | Included |
| Display ad zones | 5 zones, Starter+3 leaderboards + 2 sticky sidebars, sold by you | Via a separate ads plugin | Via a separate ads plugin | Built in |
| Per-listing upgrade store | Growth+11 gatable features, 7 pre-priced on install, all editable | Add-on | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-directory link network | Growth+Opt-in Network Hub — partner directories link to each other | No | No | No |
| Leaving | ||||
| If you stop paying | Site keeps runningOn a one-time licence you simply stop getting updates | Site keeps runningAdd-ons stop updating | Site keeps runningExtensions stop updating | Site goes offlineIt's hosted by them, on their plan |
| Export your data | It's already yoursPlain tables in your own WordPress database | CSV export | CSV export | Export tools |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
A directory that actually earns needs five jobs done. Run them as separate subscriptions and the directory plugin is the cheapest line on the invoice.
TurnKey Directories replaces all five, under one licence, on one WordPress install — and the free tier already covers the schema, the sitemaps and the analytics.
Every tier is the same plugin. What changes is how many listings you can bring in through the bulk importer, how many sites the licence covers, and how far the SEO and monetization tooling goes. One-time is the flagship; annual is the lower-commitment alternative.
One-time buys lifetime updates on that tier · annual is cancellable · no per-listing or revenue fees on any tier
All competitor prices checked 31 July 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page.
Three live directories at 10K, 30K and 50K listings — real pages, real search, real schema. Or install the free version and build one yourself this afternoon.